Brazil completes first-ever video call on standalone 5G

The first ever video call on standalone 5G in Latin America has been completed in Brazil as part of a series of supplier demonstrations to the government ahead of the upcoming fifth-generation spectrum auction.

The video call, made on Friday (9) from Nokia's Brazilian headquarters in São Paulo, connected Brazil's communications minister Fabio Faria to president Jair Bolsonaro, who was in Brasília at the time.

In order to connect the two standalone 5G terminals, Nokia set up a specific structure in the presidential office, which allowed for the ultra-fast, stable and interference-free call to take place between the president and the minister.

In addition, Nokia also signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of a 5G laboratory with the Ministry of Communications, the Federation of Industries of São Paulo (FIESP) and the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), in Paraíba, where the facility will be based.

Nokia is one of the 5G equipment manufacturers and was part of the itinerary of the international mission led by the Brazilian government in February as part of its ongoing discovery process about the technology. The 5G auction notice is currently being analyzed by the Federal Court of Accounts.

At the time of the global tour, Faria noted the Brazilian government wanted to adopt "5G for real": "We want to adopt standalone 5G so that we can take advantage of all the technology it can provide for [Brazil's] development. Non-standalone 5G is comparable to 4G plus", he said at the time.

According to the government, the expectation is that the auction will take place this year, and that all Brazilian capitals will have 5G standalone until July 2022.